The Dougloid Papers

devoted to the pursuit of all things of interest to former Douglas Aircraft workers and anything else that looks remotely interesting.
I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. . . . I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD-William Lloyd Garrison

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

There's an interesting and timely decision (Landmark National Bank v. Kesler) out of the Kansas Supreme Court that's worth a look for what it says about servicing agents and nominees where the underlying mortgage has been chopped, sliced, diced, pureed and sold off as some sort of financial smoothie to gullible 'investors'.

The ubiquitous notices of foreclosure in the papers may soon have foreclosure petitions recast to remove MERS as plaintiff because of this decision, and one of my spies in a downtown law firm tells me this is, in fact, the case.

Kesler owned real estate in Ford County, Kansas secured by two mortgages-a $50,000 first with Landmark and a $ 93,100 second with Millennia Mortgage Co., both mortgages having been recorded in Ford County. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) was named as the nominee and Millennia as the creditor in the second mortgage, and Sovereign was a putative assignee of the Millennia second mortgage. (MERS functions as an electronic mortgage tracking system).

Kesler filed for bankruptcy in April, 2006, and Landmark filed a petition to foreclose its mortgage, naming Kesler and Millennia but not MERS or Sovereign. In the absence of answers the trial court entered a default judgment, and the property was sold at a sheriff's sale.Landmark filed a motion to confirm the sale on November 14, 2006.

Contemporaneously Sovereign filed a motion to set aside the default judgment and an answer asserting an interest as Millennia's assignee. It was said that MERS was a necessary party and because MERS did not receive service, Sovereign did not receive notice. MERS also filed a motion to set aside the default and a motion to intervene.

The trial court found that MERS was not a real party in interest; therefore Landmark was not required to name MERS as a party in its foreclosure petition. The court also found that MERS was only an agent or representative of Millennia. Sovereign had also failed to register its mortgage with the Ford County Registrar of Deeds, thus depriving itself of the right to intervene after judgment.

On appeal, the Kansas Supreme Court determined that the trial court was obliged to consider whether MERS would have had a meritorious defense if it had been named as a defendant and whether the outcome at a trial would have been different.

Because MERS was a nominee, its legal status depended on its relationship to its principal, Sovereign. The Court described that relationship to be that of a straw man. It had no stake in the outcome of the action as it did not function as a lender to Kesler and was in no sense an economic beneficiary. MERS did not demonstrate, and did not attempt to demonstrate that it possessed any interest in the mortgage beyond the bare designation as a mortgagor. It did not lend money or receive payment from the borrower, and it suffered no monetary loss as a consequence of the underlying litigation.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

First there's the embarrassment of a soon to be former governor Mark Sanford who can't seem to keep his dick in his pants or tell the truth but thinks that neither of those things ought to disqualify him from the governor's mansion.

Tonight something different happened when a hitherto unknown GOP Representative from the Palmetto State, Joe Wilson, shouted at the president "you lie!" during his speech tonight. I guess he thought he was at a town hall meeting, Klan shindig, or something like that, kinda forgot where he was and who he's supposed to be representing.

What was stunning, too, was, the rapidity with which Wilson got in the cafeteria line for an extra large helping of crow, served up just the way he likes it.

Of course, we fully expect that, in a line stolen from Hamas recently, the usual suspects will declare victory on the airwaves tomorrow.

Be that as it may, it's worth noting that this sort of stuff renders the effectivity of these two nitwits at something less than zero, and I'm quite sure that a lot of people in South Carolina are asking themselves how in hell they got elected and why they're still getting paid.

They're an embarrassment.

Of course our Steve King is no slouch himself for opining that if Barack Obama got elected the terrorists would be dancing in the streets, or the Senile Senator hisself for indulging in a little town hall theater lately, stealing his lines of course from Sarah Palin.

On that note, I wonder why anyone thinks he's capable of or willing to negotiate anything at this point.

I guess the Dems have been out of power so long that they forgot what it's like to use that damned majority.

The message from every Democrat to the GOP and its adherents should be "Push, pull, or get the hell out of the way." My next stop is over at the party website where I am going to offer my services in any capacity for any candidate who runs against Grassley.

Here's the rendition of the staged episode from the Times:

"Mr. Wilson seemed rattled in the wake of his comment, and quickly left the chamber at the end of the speech.

His office later issued an apology, saying: “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”

Mr. Wilson also phoned the White House and reached Mr. Emanuel, who accepted an apology on behalf of the president."

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Kittyhawk M5 gutshots: The Hangar 51 report

Seeing as Sean Huston's Blues Deville is going out on the road here, I decided it was time to start refurbishing the Kittyhawk M5 you see here.

This amplifier is some kind of ultimate orphan, as very little is known about them and the German manufacturer is long since out of business, as far as I know. I do have a partial schematic and I can probably figure out the rest. Some voltage mapping will be in order, and then eliminating the patented plastic "DestructoPots".

If the power transformer is capable of it, it might be fun to plug in a couple of the new JJ 6V6S tubes, as we hear they're more robust and capable of delivering an improvement in wattage.

If you've got any information or documentation on this amp, please send me an email.

About Me

I'm a semi retired attorney and amp mechanic in central Iowa. I'm laying off the law and anything else I do not like due to my recent encounter with the Grim Reaper. Well. We passed by each other in the night and I got away clean. I moderate the posts here and I delete without comment those that attack me personally and are generally sophomoric, unlettered and play games with the truth.
This blog isn't a public toilet and you don't get to write on the walls here, people.
OUR CO-EDITOR: Darla Mondou comes to us through a fortuitous convergence of interest in ag law issues and technology-provided by those wonderful folks at Google and Blogger, who provide the forum. Darla is a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law and Graduate program in Agricultural Law, she hails from all over like me, and she is currently working on court appointed appeals in the federal system. It pays the bills.